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"It all happened in a matter of seconds," a shaken Robert Kurtenbach recalled. "Suddenly I heard people screaming and yelling, stop!"

The packed Route 76 double-decker didn't even slow, although some said the driver braked in the final seconds.

It smashed into the passing train through the closed gates and flashing lights of the level crossing, witnesses said.

The impact sent Kurtenbach, a lawyer heading to work at Aboriginal Affairs, flying from his seat on the upper deck.

Passengers fled down the stairs and out the doors a "hero" had pried open and was holding open so others could escape.

Then they stood shocked, mutely surveying the bus with its nose sheared off and the train, derailed on twisted tracks like a discarded toy.

"When I was standing there I could see there were bodies on the tracks and I could see blood on the bodies," said 59-year-old Kurtenbach, who made his own way to hospital so rescuers could focus on the gravely wounded.

Five people on the bus died at the scene and a sixth in hospital after the northbound city bus hit the engine of the Toronto-bound Via Rail train. It happened on the Transitway near Fallowfield Station during rush hour Wednesday.

Among the dead is driver David Woodard, who had almost a decade's service with OC Transpo. One of the passengers killed is Connor Boyd, a Carleton U student and graduate of Barrhaven's John McCrae high school.

At last count 37 people went to four hospitals, 11 of them critical.

It's the deadliest collision in OC Transpo history.

No one on the train was hurt.

Abandoned cell phones on the bus rang and rang as police, firefighters and paramedics swarmed the scene. Backpacks and shoes could be seen at the edge of the yellow and blue tarps that covered the bodies.

One man said his sister, a passenger, had seen a man on the bus who'd been decapitated.

"She said everyone had blood on them," he said.

Passenger Chad Mariage, a House of Commons clerk, helped pull out a man who'd been pinned under the front doors of the bus. He was in "rough shape" and breathing quickly and shallowly. He saw others on the ground as he was led away by rescuers.

"It's hard to un-see some of the things you saw," Mariage said. "Some were conscious and moving. Others were clearly not with us anymore."

The region's trauma centre at the Civic campus of the Ottawa Hospital brought in a dozen extra nurses and doctors to cope with the most casualties they've dealt with in recent memory.

At city hall, flags were lowered to half-mast, a book of condolences set up and Mayor Jim Watson said Ottawa's thoughts and prayers are with the hurt and grieving.

At the Nepean Sportsplex, worried relatives and friends gathered for news of people they knew or feared were on that bus. They were greeted inside with food, blankets and the comfort of trauma counsellors.

One woman paced, awaiting news of her baby's father.

"I was hoping to get information to see if he's OK," she said. "All they said was, it's a waiting game."

At OC Transpo, an investigation was underway.

"We're still trying to learn the details of how this tragedy occurred and we will be sharing that information as it comes available," general manager John Manconi said.

The head of the Transportation Safety Board said it could take several months to find out what happened.

Hours after the terror, 11 board inspectors, along with Via Rail staff, were probing the wreckage for signs of some malfunction.

Witnesses suspect they'll find none.

Eyewitness Mark Cogan was waiting in his car about four vehicles back from the railway gates on Woodroffe. Both sets of crossing barriers were down.

"Everything was down, everybody was at a standstill," Cogan said. "(The bus) went through the guard rail."

Cristina Pecora was also stopped waiting for the train to pass when she saw the bus going "way, way too quickly" towards the gates and flashing lights.

"I thought to myself - he's not stopping," the Barrhaven woman said. "Then the brake lights went on, he was trying to stop the last few seconds."

Police investigate a collision between a Via train and an OC Transpo commuter bus in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (ERROL MCGIHON/QMI Agency)

QMI

Police investigate a collision between a Via train and an OC Transpo commuter bus in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (ERROL MCGIHON/QMI Agency)

QMI

Police investigate a collision between a Via train and an OC Transpo commuter bus in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (DOUG HEMPSTEAD/QMI Agency)

QMI

Passengers are evacuated from a Via train following a collision with an OC Transpo bus in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (DANIELLE BELL/QMI Agency)

DANIELLE BELL/OTTAWA SUN/AGENCE QMI

A Via train and an OC Transpo commuter bus collided in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (MAXIME LANDRY/QMI Agency)

MAXIME LANDRY/TVA NOUVELLES/AGEN

Emergency crews were on the scene helping people who were on the double decker bus which collided with a Via train in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. A mother and father carry their baby from the accident scene. (TONY CALDWELL/QMI Agency)

Emergency crews were on the scene helping people who were on the double decker bus which collided with a Via train in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (TONY CALDWELL/QMI Agency)

Passengers are evacuated from a Via train following a collision with an OC Transpo bus in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (DANIELLE BELL/QMI Agency)

DANIELLE BELL/OTTAWA SUN/AGENCE QMI

A Via train and an OC Transpo commuter bus collided in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (MAXIME LANDRY/QMI Agency)

MAXIME LANDRY/TVA NOUVELLES/AGEN

An injured passenger is assisted by emergency personnel following a bus and train crash near the Fallowfield Transit Station in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (ERROL MCGIHON/QMI Agency)

QMI Agency

Police examine the scene of an accident involving a bus and train near the Fallowfield Transit Station in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (ERROL MCGIHON/QMI Agency)

QMI Agency

Police examine the scene of an accident involving a bus and train near the Fallowfield Transit Station in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (ERROL MCGIHON/QMI Agency)

QMI Agency

An injured passenger is assisted by emergency personnel following a bus and train crash near the Fallowfield Transit Station in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (ERROL MCGIHON/QMI Agency)

QMI Agency

A covered body is pictured at the scene of a fatal bus and train crash near the Fallowfield Transit Station in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (ERROL MCGIHON/QMI Agency)

QMI Agency

An injured passenger is assisted by emergency personnel following a bus and train crash near the Fallowfield Transit Station in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (ERROL MCGIHON/QMI Agency)

QMI Agency

Police investigate a collision between a Via train and an OC Transpo commuter bus in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (ERROL MCGIHON/QMI Agency)

QMI Agency

Police investigate a collision between a Via train and an OC Transpo commuter bus in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (ERROL MCGIHON/QMI Agency)

QMI Agency

Emergency crews were on the scene helping people who were on the double decker bus which collided with a Via train in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. A mother and father carry their baby from the accident scene. (TONY CALDWELL/QMI Agency)

Emergency crews were on the scene helping people who were on the double decker bus which collided with a Via train in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (TONY CALDWELL/QMI Agency)

Emergency crews and investigators examine the scene of an accident involving a bus and train near the Fallowfield Transit Station in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (TONY CALDWELL/QMI Agency)

Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Age

An injured passenger is assisted by emergency personnel following a bus and train crash near the Fallowfield Transit Station in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (ERROL MCGIHON/QMI Agency)

QMI Agency

Passengers and witnesses wait to make statements following a bus and train crash near the Fallowfield Transit Station in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (ERROL MCGIHON/QMI Agency)

QMI Agency

Police investigate a collision between a Via train and an OC Transpo commuter bus in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (ERROL MCGIHON/QMI Agency)

QMI Agency

An injured passenger is assisted by emergency personnel following a bus and train crash near the Fallowfield Transit Station in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (ERROL MCGIHON/QMI Agency)

QMI Agency

Police examine the scene of an accident involving a bus and train near the Fallowfield Transit Station in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (ERROL MCGIHON/QMI Agency)

QMI Agency

An injured passenger is assisted by emergency personnel following a bus and train crash near the Fallowfield Transit Station in Ottawa on September 18, 2013. (ERROL MCGIHON/QMI Agency)

QMI Agency

Karen Krzyzewski, 53, was one of six people killed after an Ottawa bus smashed into a train on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. (Handout)

PHOTO COURTOISIE

Rob More, 35, was one of six people killed after an Ottawa bus smashed into a train on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. (Handout)

PHOTO COURTOISIE

Michael Bleakney, 57, was one of six people killed after an Ottawa bus smashed into a train on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. (Handout)

PHOTO COURTOISIE

Kyle Nash, 21, was one of six people killed after an Ottawa bus smashed into a train on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. (Handout)

PHOTO COURTOISIE

Connor Boyd, 21, was one of six people killed after an Ottawa bus smashed into a train on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. (Handout)

PHOTO COURTOISIE

OC Transpo bus driver, David Woodard, 45, was one of six people killed after it smashed into a train. (Facebook)